Riders who board a CTA bus only to find out they don't have enough money on their Ventra cards may ask the bus driver to doublecheck their balances and then pay their fares with cash or personal bank card.
This little-known way of settling fare disputes is not new, the CTA says, but the software upgrade that allows the bus driver to check Ventra balances was included in a $7.3 million package of changes to the Ventra system the CTA board approved last week that also included adding more fare readers at some stations.
"Just to maintain efficient boarding, this function was added to resolve fare disputes," CTA spokeswoman Tammy Chase said.
When a rider taps a Ventra card on a Ventra reader on a CTA bus or at a rail station, the card reader either says "go" or "stop"-the latter if the card was not read by the machine or there's insufficent fare.
For riders who have some money on their cards but not enough for the $2 bus fare or $2.25 rail fare, the Ventra system allows these riders to have a courtesy ride and deducts the ride from their balances, sending riders' accounts into the red.
If a rider has a negative balance, he or she gets the "stop" message when tapping the Ventra card on a reader. If the rider is on a bus, he or she can pay the fare with cash or tap a personal bank card with a "blink" logo on the Ventra reader.
The fare reader does not display the amount of money in the rider's Ventra account or the expiration date of the rider's unlimited ride pass, as readers were able to do under the CTA's previous fare system.
The lack of account information displayed on fare readers has caused some arguments between riders and bus drivers. This new technology is supposed to ease these disputes.
It seems like it would be simpler just to show riders their balances when they tap their cards. But Chase said showing the account balance on the readers does "take a little bit of time," which could slow the boarding process.
The CTA says it encourages riders to check their balances online at ventrachicago.com or at rail station vending machines.
A forthcoming Ventra app, which should be available next spring, is supposed to allow riders to easily check their account balance and add money on the go. This will help bus riders who aren't near a rail station or retailer or who have found Ventra's mobile site to have glitches.
Also, if riders do have fare disputes, instead of immediately getting off the bus as some riders did in the past, the riders can challenge-on the spot-the amount of money they have in their accounts, which may lead to bus delays as drivers spend time resolving the dispute.
Other services included in the $7.3 million Ventra package approved by the CTA board last week are outfitting new buses with Ventra readers; purchasing mobile fare readers that can be readily added to rail stations to speed people through turnstiles during large events such as Lollapalooza and Taste of Chicago; and adding new fare readers to rail stations undergoing makeovers such as the Wilson Red Line stop in Uptown and the 95th Red Line stop in Roseland.
Also, some Ventra vending machines will be converted to "express machines" at the CTA stops at O'Hare and Midway airports. The machines will allow riders to buy only one-day unlimited ride passes and single-ride tickets, which have been popular with tourists.
Machines currently sell those tickets but also offer Ventra hard cards and multi-day unlimited passes. The change would make the options simpler for tourists and infrequent CTA riders who "just want to get a ticket and go," Chase said.
This conversion will likely happen early next year, Chase said. It's unclear how many machines would be converted.
Stationary
A weekly dispatch from a CTA station of note
This week: Ashland on the Green and Pink lines
The CTA needs to call Bulls star Derrick Rose's rehab team. The Ashland stop, which many Bulls and Blackhawks fans use because it is within walking distance of the United Center, is in desperate need of repair. The stairs are rusty, the paint is peeling and the lights are dull. There are no plans to build a station closer to the United Center, so if the city is concerned about its image for tourists, cleaning up the Ashland stop on the Near West Side should be a goal-or a slam dunk.
Next up: Done! I have visited and written a review of every CTA rail station.